Oprah’s Comment Strikes a Chord

By Harold Gwin, Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio

Jan. 5–YOUNGSTOWN — Oprah Winfrey’s reported comment that American inner-city pupils don’t appreciate the learning opportunities they have rang true with some local individuals involved in education and work with young people.

Winfrey, who recently opened a $40 million school for poor girls in South Africa, spoke in a Newsweek interview about potential criticism for spending the money abroad rather than on education in the United States.

American pupils don’t appreciate what they have, she said, adding that she became frustrated visiting inner-city schools and just stopped going.

“The sense that you need to learn just isn’t there,” she said. “If you ask the kids what they want or need they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”

“Oprah has a good point,” said Brian Keith West, who works with Youngstown young people in his “It Starts Here” program.

“That’s basically the mentality that America has put into its youth,” West said, explaining that society tells them what they have to have.

“We’ve gotten kind of spoiled,” he said, noting that young people can turn to selling drugs or committing other crimes to get money to get the things they want right now.

“Our young people haven’t realized the importance of education,” said Kathryn Hawks Haney, a member of the city school board and executive director of Give the Children A Chance Inc.

They have a lot of modern distractions such as computers and iPods to keep their minds off of education, she said.

Children in some other countries are taught, “If I can only get to America, if I can only get an education …,” Hawks Haney said.

Young people often fail to see the connection between education and using that education to get a job to get the things they want, said Jamael Tito Brown, a member of the city school board and executive director of human relations for the city.

“I call this generation the ‘microwave generation,’” Brown said. “They want it done right now.”

“I think [Winfrey] is really on point,” he said, adding, “We really have to put education first.”

The president of the Youngstown school board said Winfrey may have over-generalized the situation.

“I believe that there are some kids that have that mentality, but we can’t paint all children with that same brush,” said the Rev. Michael Write. “I do think there are some young people whose minds are on education.”

Winfrey, in a later television interview, said her comment was a generalization that perhaps she shouldn’t have made. There are a lot of kids doing great things in this country, but American youth have a sense of entitlement, that they are owed things or should have things, she said.

The Rev. Mr. Write said he’s visited a school in Ethiopia and understands what Winfrey is saying, but, just like kids in Africa, there are American kids who are excited about education. There are children in the Youngstown schools who are accomplishing great things academically, he said.

“We, in urban areas, need to support those who are doing well and seek to engage and support those who are not,” he said.

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